Official Development Assistance Reductions

Brian Mathew Excerpts

Tuesday 4th November 2025 Westminster Hall

[Brian Mathew (Melksham and Devizes) (LD)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Desmond. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for West Dorset (Edward Morello) for securing this important debate.

Getting UK aid spending to 0.7% of GNI was undoubtedly one of the Liberal Democrats’ proudest moments. It fulfilled a promise and it put us ahead of the game in the race to reach the Brandt target, but more importantly it meant that the UK was doing its bit to make poverty history around the world. The cut to 0.3% is a tragedy for the poorest on the planet, and it diminishes our reputation and influence.

I want to focus on my own area of expertise: water, sanitation and hygiene, or WASH. Sustainable development goal 6 is clean water and sanitation, but WASH also underpins most of the other SDGs. We know that the world could face a 40% shortfall of fresh water by 2030, and that progress on the sustainable development goals is way off track for meeting that 2030 deadline. More seriously, the UK’s annual budget for WASH has been cut by approximately 82% since 2018—from £206.5 million to a critical low of just £37 million in 2022. Two thirds of healthcare facilities in the 46 least developed countries do not have access to basic handwashing facilities, and without access to WASH, infections are more likely to spread. That increases the risk of antibiotic-resistant infections, which cause 5 million deaths annually.

There are also economic costs. Research by WaterAid has shown that infections developed in healthcare facilities cost seven countries across sub-Saharan Africa $8.4 billion each year. In Malawi, those infections are consuming almost 3% of the country’s GDP, and a staggering 10.9% of its annual healthcare budget is being absorbed in treating them. Many antibiotic-resistant infections treated by the NHS originate elsewhere in the world. Healthcare-acquired infections already cost the NHS at least £2.1 billion a year—a cost that will increase as those infections become increasingly resistant to antibiotics. To protect the NHS, we need to ensure global health security, and that requires investment in WASH.

Women’s health is disproportionately affected by inadequate access to WASH, because they are the primary household managers of water and sanitation, and because of their specific needs in childbirth and menstruation. Every year, more than 16 million women give birth in healthcare facilities that lack WASH, and infections associated with unclean birth environments account for 11% of maternal mortality. Some 1.7 billion people do not have a toilet, which makes managing periods much more challenging. With no facilities at school, at work or in public places, many women and girls stay at home every month. Many girls opt out of school altogether when they start their periods. I could go on at great length, but I will say this: let us do the right thing and restore the 0.7% aid spend.